


The Fox and the Panther

by AMidnightDreary, Rabentochter



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials Fusion, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avenger Loki (Marvel), Avengers Family, Childhood Friends, Childhood Trauma, Daemon Separation, Daemon Touching, Developing Relationship, Domestic, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Frostiron Mini Bang 2019, Kid Avengers, Kidnapping, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, M/M, Pirates, Secret Identity, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-10 05:53:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18654259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMidnightDreary/pseuds/AMidnightDreary, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rabentochter/pseuds/Rabentochter
Summary: "Were you in Bolvangar, Mr. Stark?”“Yes. I was there.”They had been there together. They had survived together. And yet Tony thought Loki dead, all those years - But it turns out that Loki is very much alive and that, at Tony’s side, he might even find a safe place to stay.





	1. Bolvangar

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Frostiron mini bang of the Frostiron discord server! The AWESOME [art](https://rabentochter.tumblr.com/post/184548641169/i-got-the-honour-of-being-the-artist-to) was done by Rabentochter. I had so much fun plotting this with you, you're wonderful. ❤
> 
> Enjoy! ^. ^

“Were you in Bolvangar?”

The question is asked by a journalist who sits in the second row. His arm is still raised, he only slowly lowers it when Tony catches his gaze and holds it. It’s too serious, the expression on that pale face, and the look in the guy’s eyes is sharp. If he is proud that he’s managed the difficult task of making Tony Stark speechless, he doesn’t show it. The other journalists look at Tony expectantly, and there are a few flashes of cameras as they take pictures of both Tony’s stunned face that has probably gone white and the man who asked the question.

“I -”, Tony begins, but has not the slightest idea what to say.

“You don’t have to answer that”, Pepper jumps in, professional as ever, and then turns to the black-haired journalist again. “Ask a different question, please.”

“I don’t want to ask a different question”, he informs her politely, without taking his eyes off Tony. “Were you in Bolvangar”, the hazy notion of a smile, “ _ Mr.  _ Stark?”

Tony stares at the man and thinks that he has never seen eyes this green before, except that - oh. - he  _ has. _

He buries his hands in Kali’s pelt to ground himself, and she looks up at him from where she’s sitting in his lap, amber eyes just as wide and shocked as his own.  _ Still there _ , he reassures them both; like he has done many, many times in the last twenty years.

He can’t see Hela.

“Yes”, Tony says. “I was there.”

 

~

 

The memory that comes back first is the face of the woman who brought him to the canteen, her glassy eyes and frozen smile. The clothes she had given him didn’t fit him right, and the collar of the shirt made his neck itch. 

The canteen was a big room full with boys. The woman had given him some dull words and an encouraging nudge that had forced him to make a few steps into the room. 

“She’s still watching from the door”, Kali whispered to him, glancing back over his shoulder. She was a lynx at the moment, and he was holding her against his chest as tightly as he could. “We should move.”

Tony swallowed and nodded. He took a few aimless steps, but then he saw a familiar face and hurried toward it.

“What the actual fuck”, he said under his breath as he let himself fall on the chair across from Clint, who was looking at him with wide eyes.

“Man, I thought you were dead”, he whispered back, leaning over the table. His dæmon, Shaye, hopped off his shoulder and changed into a cat to greet Kali on eye level.

“Yeah, I thought they’d kill me, too.”

“Where did they pick you back up?”

“How should I know? There’s nothing but snow and ice everywhere, it all looks the same.” Tony looked at Kali, who was talking to Clint’s dæmon in hushed voices. “We were half frozen when they found us.”

“I told you that jumping off the sleigh was a bad idea.”

“At least I tried to get away”, Tony snapped. He was easy to irritate, as angry and afraid and tired as he was. “And actually I’m not sure if freezing to death wouldn’t have been better than this. Who knows what they’ll do to us. Does anyone here know anything?”

Clint shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. We’re all new. That creepy nurse said that the others are still in bed, because it’s the middle of the night and stuff.”

“Oh.” Tony looked around in the room, then back at Clint. “Where are the others?”

“They separated boys from girls when we arrived, and the girls aren’t here yet”, Clint replied. “I don’t know why they’re taking so long.”

“Do you think Nat tried something?”

“I don’t know.” For the first time, Clint grinned. “If she did, let’s hope she was more clever than you.”

For that, Kali playfully lept at Shaye, who didn’t let her get away with it that easily. They played for a while, changing forms and jumping around on the long table. Kali managed to knock over a glass in the progress, and a few seconds later there was another boy’s dæmon hissing at her. Kali was about to hiss back when the boy grabbed his dæmon and pulled her against his chest, whispering  something at the marten in his arms. He was a short, thin boy, with brown locks falling into his eyes. It looked like he was sitting on his own.

“Sorry”, he called over to Tony as soon as his dæmon had calmed down. “She's a bit, uh. Impulsive.”

“Same”, Tony replied and reached out for Kali, who was just strutting toward him. She climbed up his arm and settled down on his shoulder, changing into a colorful bird with ruffled feathers. “Sorry about your glass.”

The other boy was about so say something else when another one of those creepy nurses came to their table to clean up the mess their dæmons had made. She gave the boy a new glass, and he stepped away from her as soon as he could. She didn’t seem offended. 

“You want to sit with us?”, Clint invited the boy over, and after a bit of hesitation he nodded and sat down next to Tony.

“Hey”, he said. His glasses were broken, only barely held together by some tape in the middle. “I’m Bruce. And Reyna.”

“Tony and Kali. And that are birdbrain one and birdbrain two.”

“He’s the birdbrain”, Clint informed Bruce kindly. “Has no idea what he’s talking about most of the time, so don’t believe a word he says. I’m Clint, and my dæmon’s called Shaye.”

“I am  _ clearly _ the most intelligent person here, asshole.”

“You jumped off that sleigh into three feet high snow, at like minus sixty degrees.”

“That was you?”, Bruce said before Tony could come up with a snarky reply. Tony flashed him a grin. 

“Yes, that was me.”

“Pretty brave.”

“ _ Thank  _ you. See, Clint, this is what  _ supporting a friend _ looks like. Bruce, you’re a good friend, thanks.”

“Any time”, Bruce said politely. “So, uh, do you two know each other?”

“We met on the ship”, Clint answered. “Hey, do you know anything about what they’re doing to the girls? We’re waiting for another friend, kind of.”

Bruce exchanged glances with his dæmon, than shook his head. “No, sorry. I don't even know why we're here.”

“Looks like nobody knows that”, Tony said. 

“Mhhm.”

“You're on your own?”, Clint asked.

Bruce nodded. He'd started turning his new glass in his hands. “I mean, I met this guy on the ship, but he tried to take it up with the nurses when they wanted to examine hin.”

Clint snorted. “You're not the only idiot then, Tony.”

Tony ably ignored that. “What did he do?”

“Uh, he didn't let them anywhere near him, and when one of the male guards came, they got into a fight. They took him away in the end.” Bruce lifted his shoulders, frowning. “I hope he's okay.”

“I'm sure he is”, Tony said, even though he wasn't sure at all.

 

~

 

There was so much snow. The window barely showed anything else, only snow and ice and white, white, white, no matter in which direction Loki looked. The sky was endless. Vibrant colors danced across it, a million shades of green and purple and blue. Just a few days - or was it weeks? Loki didn’t know anymore - ago he had sat outside with his family, looking up to a sky that had been very similar to this one, but somehow much more beautiful. This sky wasn’t beautiful. It was crushing, nothing more than a prettily colored taunt.

Loki averted his eyes from the sight and stared down at his knees instead. Hela kept looking out of the window. They had been hiding here for several hours, sitting behind the heavy curtains in the room the nurse had called the dormitory. There were six beds, which meant that there would be five other boys. Loki didn’t like that prospect. He’d had to share a room with Thor for two weeks before this, that had convinced him that he preferred to have a bedroom for himself. 

Of course, now he would give a lot to be able to share a room with Thor again.

It was Kali who found them. The curtain suddenly moved, and a small brown head came into sight, dark eyes blinking at Loki in surprise.

“What?”, Loki asked the dæmon, and the head disappeared again. Loki huffed and looked at Hela, who had climbed up his leg and was now sitting on his knees. Just a second later he heard steps that were definitely approaching him, so he hurried to wipe his eyes. When the curtain was pushed aside, Loki was looking out of the window, determined not to do so much as  _ glance _ at whoever was disturbing him. 

“Uh, hey. You okay there?”

Okay fine, so Loki did look at the other boy now. An American, judging by his accent, with messy brown hair and dark eyes that looked just like those of his dæmon. 

“You’re new here, right?”, the boy asked, crouching across from Loki when it became clear that he wouldn’t get an answer to his first question. “And you didn’t come in a shipment.”

Loki frowned, absentmindedly wiping his nose with his sleeve. “Did you?”

“Yeah. We were like, forty boys and girls? All taken from around New York. We were on that ship for ages, and then they carted us here, on sleighs. It was fun.” Loki snorted and the other boy flashed a grin before he sat down, stretching his legs out in front of him. “What about you?”

“We were on vacation in Iceland”, Loki answered, wrapping his arms around his knees again. “My family and me. I got lost on a hike.”

“And these guys found you”, the boy said. It didn’t sound like a question. “Well, lucky you, right?”

“I haven’t decided yet if this is better or worse than hiking with my family”, Loki drawled, and it was the other boy’s turn to snort.

“I’m Tony”, he said then, offering Loki his hand. “And my dæmon’s name is Kali.”

Loki aimed a shaky smile at both Tony and his dæmon - a meerkat, now perched on Tony’s shoulders - and reached out to shake the American’s hand. “I’m Loki.” He pointed at his own dæmon who was still sitting on his knees. “And Hela.”

Tony smiled, too, then raised his brows as he looked down at Hela. “I’m sorry, but I’ve never seen this kind of animal before in my life.”

“It’s an axolotl”, Loki informed him and in reaction to Tony’s still confused expression adds, “A Mexican walking fish?”

“Nope, never heard that one, either”, Tony said, shrugging. Kali jumped off his shoulder and settled down between his legs, now in the form of an axolotl, too. Hela looked down at the other dæmon, curious, but she didn’t dare to do anything else. It seemed to Loki that Kali wanted to greet Hela, and he was glad that she didn’t try to push it. Hela didn’t like strangers.

“So, you want to hang out here a bit more?”, Tony asked after a moment. “I mean, I get it. This spot is really interesting.”

“It’s really not.”

“Not at all. Come on, then. I’ll introduce you to my friends.”

 

~

 

“Here”, Tony said when they walked through the door, Loki a bit behind him. “This is some sort of playroom. We spend a lot of time here. There are board games and stuff, but we’re also supposed to do some exercise.”

“Sounds like fun”, Loki replied, tense. Tony glanced back at him to see that the other boy’s shoulders were hunched as he looked around the room. His dæmon was safely tucked into his arms, now in the form of a rabbit. You could see that Loki had been crying. 

Tony wanted to say something to reassure him, but then a loud voice called over to them, “Tony! Over here!”

Clint was waving at them from across the room, grinning brightly. Tony waved back and motioned for Loki to come with him when he walked over to his friends. They were sitting on pillows on the floor and playing cards, and all four of them looked surprised when they spotted Loki behind Tony.

“Hi, guys”, Tony said and took Loki by his arm, gently pulling until he was standing right next to Tony. “These are Loki and his dæmon Hela. Don’t be too annoying to them.”

“We’re never annoying”, Clint said.

“You’re always annoying”, Natasha said.

“Ignore them”, Steve said, smiling at Loki. “I’m Steve, and these are Clint and Natasha. And Bruce.” 

The others waved at Loki when their names were mentioned, and Loki smiled timidly. Bruce stood up and procured two pillows for Tony and Loki to sit on. Hela had by now changed into a fairly adorable fawn, and Tony hoped that nobody would mention how adorable it was because he was sure Loki wouldn’t appreciate that. Thankfully, Natasha’s dæmon, Kalon, simply turned into a fawn, too, and stalked over to Hela to greet her. The others quickly followed him, and soon their dæmons sat in a circle, just like them, and spoke to each other in hushed tones.

“You’re new here, aren’t you?”, Clint asked, which was better than commenting on adorable dæmons, but not very much.

“We were brought here this morning”, Loki answered politely. He hesitated, then asked, “How long have you been here?”

“A few weeks.” Natasha collected the playing cards from everyone and started to shuffle them. “We all came with the same ship, from New York.” 

“Yes, Tony said that.”

“You’re British?”, Bruce asked, curious.

Loki nodded. “Well, I was born in Norway, but I grew up in London, yes.”

“They’re really abducting kids from everywhere”, Steve said with a frown. “America, Europe - there are even a few from Asia.”

Natasha gave out the cards, and even though Loki seemed a bit confused, he took them. “But how do they do that? I’ve seen a lot of children here, they can’t just kidnap them all and stay unnoticed.”

Clint snorted. “Most of the kids here aren’t missed by anybody.” In reaction to Loki’s questioning look, Clint added, “Well, look - my parents are long dead. My brother and me joined a traveling circus, and probably he’s the only one who is actually looking for me. Steve and Nat don’t have any family, either, and Bruce -”

“I was alone, too”, Bruce cut in before Clint could say anything else. 

Clint gave him an apologetic glance, which Bruce just shrugged off, and then continued, “We’re just street kids, you know. Tony’s the exception, he is sort of rich.”

“I’m not  _ sort of _ rich, I am rich”, Tony corrected. 

“Your parents are rich”, Bruce said.

“His parents are looking for him, that’s the important point”, Steve said, ignoring the bantering. “And they’re sort of famous, too, so -”

“They’re not _sort_ _of_ famous -”, Tony began, but then Clint threw a card at him, and Steve ignored that, too.

“So his disappearing is really big in the news and they’re investigating, probably.”

“So maybe we just have to wait until they find us?” Loki sounded very doubtful.

“Yup”, Tony said. “It’ll take ages, and who knows if we’ll survive that long.”

Steve shot a pointed look at him. “Tony.”

Tony just shrugged. “What, it’s true.” To Loki, he said, “Nobody knows what they want from us. But every once in a while they take a kid, and then it’s gone.”

Loki frowned at him. “Gone?”

“We don’t know what they do to them”, Natasha told him. “We just never see them again.”

Loki stayed quiet, looking down at his cards. The silence lasted a bit too long.

“Do we want to start playing?”, Bruce asked eventually.

Tony nodded. “What are we playing, anyway? Rummy?”

“Yeah”, Clint said, then turned to Loki. “Do you know the rules?”

Loki shook his head.

“I’ll explain”, Steve said, and he did.

 

~

 

“Hey. Hey, Loki. Wake up.”

Loki was already awake, and the whispered words made him open his eyes. He found himself face to face with Tony, who was crouching next to Loki’s bed. The dormitory was dark and Loki could barely make out Tony’s features, but he could see enough to tell that it  _ was _ Tony and that he was probably planning to cause trouble. He was always planning to cause trouble. That was the reason - well, one of the reasons - Loki had come to like him, because Loki liked to cause trouble, too. Sometimes.

“What?”, he whispered back. Maybe Tony grinned; Loki wasn’t entirely sure.

“I want to talk to you. Move back a bit, Bambi.”

“What?”, Loki asked again, but Tony was already crawling into his bed, forcing Loki to make room for him. Even though they were both rather short and thin, the bed was still too small for both of them, so they were lying almost chest to chest. Hela made a protesting sound; she’d been lying  in front of Loki in the form of a mouse and now had to squeeze herself up between their bodies. She scurried up Loki’s arm to curl up in the crook of his neck.

“Sorry”, Tony murmured. His own dæmon was still behind him and now put her paws on Tony’s side to look at Loki. He could see the eyes of a cat glinting at him.

“What time is it?” Loki spoke as quietly as possible. He didn’t want to wake the others, and in the bed next to his own, Steve had already started stirring a bit.

“Dunno”, Tony replied. “Late. The night nurse just did her last patrol, I think. Did you sleep?”

Loki shook his head, then wondered if Tony could even see that and said, “No.”

“We have to get out of here”, Tony says suddenly. What little Loki can see of his face looks uncharacteristically serious. “I bet that kid they took yesterday won’t come back, either.”

“Maybe they brought her back home”, Loki suggests, and Tony snorts.

“Yeah, sure. You really think that?”

Loki sighs and shifts a little. “No. But I don’t know what else to think.”

“You don't kidnap people and just give them back a few months later. Not without doing anything to them.”

“Maybe they demanded ransom and got it.”

“And take us all the way up here for that? No. Also we're too many. I've been kidnapped for ransom before, this is not how it works.”

Loki stared at his friend. “You never said.”

“It wasn't a big deal”, Tony dismissed lightly.

They were quiet for a while. “We would have to incapacitate everything”, Loki whispered then. “Distracting the guards at the doors wouldn't be enough.”

“Yeah”, Tony agreed. “But we're six. Together we should manage.”

Loki grinned. “Steve can do some of the distraction with one of his speeches.”

Tony snorted, and behind Loki a sleepy voice asked, “What speeches?”

“Your patriotic lectures, Uncle Sam”, Tony answered.

“Oh”, Steve said, yawning. “Yeah, I can do that. Distract who?”

“The nurses. Or the guards?”

“Probably the nurses”, Loki said. “We would have to -”

A pillow landed on Loki's bed, cutting him off. It also hit the back of Tony's head, resulting in Tony hissing an insult and throwing the pillow back to where it had come from. Namely, Clint's bed.

“Can you  _ not  _ be annoying for a change?”

“Can you  _ be quiet _ for a change?”, Clint countered, whining. “It's the middle of the night!”

“We're plotting our great escape, birdbrain”, Tony said. “Things like that have to be done in the middle of the night.”

“Things like that should be done quietly”, another voice murmured. It seemed like they managed to wake up their whole dorm room, even Bruce in the bed farthest away from them.

“Actually, we should do it in the canteen”, Loki said. “There the nurses don't listen to what anybody says.”

“That's true”, Steve chimed in again.

“Alright”, Tony said. “Then tomorrow at breakfast.”

Loki shook his head, even though nobody could see. “Everybody is still tired and quiet at breakfast. Dinner.”

“Tomorrow at dinner”, Tony corrected.

“Nat will join in”, Clint said. “She's sick of being here, too.”

At the other end of the room, Bruce snorted. “We all are.”

The others made a few assenting sounds. A few minutes later, Clint was snoring again.

“Will you go back into your own bed now?”, Loki whispered.

“No. It's warmer here.”

Loki rolled his eyes, then closed them.

He fell asleep quickly.

 

~

 

“I'm not sure if this is a good idea”, Bruce said quietly.

“This is an  _ awesome _ idea”, Tony tried to reassure him, but the effect was a bit damped by Loki's snort.

“It's really not.”

“As if you aren't having fun”, Tony teased him, and suddenly Loki was grinning from ear to ear.

“Of course I'm having fun”, he said cheerfully. “But this is still an awful idea.”

Bruce sighed. “I'm also not sure if having you two lead this whole thing was a good idea.”

“No, that  _ was  _ an awesome idea.” Loki's tone was sweet, but his grin had faded and his body was tense. He was walking a bit before Tony and Bruce, and now he stopped and held up his hand before peeking around the corner they had arrived at.

“Oh”, he whispered. Hela buzzed around his head and then into the corridor that lead to the exit, her green feathers shimmering in the glaring overhead lights. “He's actually gone.”

“No wonder.” Tony walked up to his friend and looked around the corner, too. The guard that was usually standing in front of the exit was indeed not on his post. “You can still hear them.”

The noise coming out of the direction of the canteen was loud and chaotic, and now and then they could actually hear Natasha screaming. She and Clint had started a fight at dinner and were apparently still throwing food at each other. It sounded like the other children had followed suit, and even the guy at the door was needed to put them back in check.

“How long do you think we have?”, Loki asked, glancing back at them.

“Fifteen minutes, tops”, Bruce guessed.

Tony nodded. “We should get going.”

They sneaked into the corridor and out of the building. There was an alarm when they opened the door, but it wasn't like could do anything about that; they just had to hope that the staff wouldn't hear it over the chaos in the canteen. It was freezing cold outside, and the snow swallowed up their feet and soaked their pants. Bruce took Reyna up into his arms as soon as she turned into something with a thick and warming pelt. Hela stayed in the form of a colibri, and Kali - 

Kali  _ had _ been a frog, and she'd sunken into the snow entirely. But then she changed and a gray, rotund head peeked out of the white, with big dark eyes that blinked up at them. She made a delighted sound, her ears wiggling, and then began prodding through the snow.

“Is that a hippopotamus?”, Bruce asked.

“A baby hippo”, Tony corrected, nodding, and led the way away from the facility to the small hut that was quite a few feet away from the main building. They had seen nurses walking in and out of there, every time shortly after they took a child out of the canteen or the play room, which had led them to believe that they would find some clues in there.

“A baby hippo is not  _ really _ the right animal for snea-”, Loki hissed, but Tony cut him off.

“Oh, come on, leave her be.”

“I didn't even know hippos liked snow”, Bruce said pensively just as they reached the shack.

“They do, obviously”, Tony said, though he wasn't sure. He'd never thought much about hippos.

Meanwhile, Loki had tried to open the door and found that it was closed. He was now leaning down to examine the lock, and Tony walked a few steps away from the door.

“What are you doing?”

Tony glanced back at Bruce and answered his whispered question, “Looking for a window. Maybe we can -”

“Or we can use the door like decent people”, Loki interrupted and opened the door. They gaped at him, and he grinned and showed them a pin, glistening in the moonlight. 

“Where did you get that?”, Bruce asked. He even forgot to whisper.

Loki shrugged. “Stole it.”

“You can pick locks?”, what was Tony concentrated on, grinning widely. “Loki, you're -”

_ Amazing _ , he'd wanted to say, but then they stepped into the hut and caught a glimpse of what was inside of it. A few seconds later Tony ran outside again to hurl up what little he had eaten a dinner, and Loki followed him just a moment later. Bruce stayed in the shack a bit longer, maybe a minute, and then he came outside to them and closed the door behind him. 

“We should go back”, he said.

He looked very angry.

 

~

 

They met the others in their dorm room. Even Natasha was there. Loki had the feeling she wasn’t allowed to be but had sneaked in. All three of them, Natasha and Clint and Steve, looked like they had fallen into a dumpster full of food waste. There was salad sticking out of Natasha’s disarrayed hair, various stains on all of their, but somehow especially on Clint’s clothes, and Steve smelled like he had taken a bath in chicken soup. 

Still, when Loki, Tony and Bruce walked into the room, it was Clint who asked them, “What the fuck happened to you?”, not the other way around. Loki wasn’t surprised; he was sure he looked as shaken as he felt. Bruce and Tony were white as a sheet, too, and Bruce’s eyes were still blazing with anger. Reyna’s pelt was bristled and she hissed at everything that came near her, which had forced Bruce to take her in his arms to keep her from jumping Kali, who had kept trying to console her. Kali was now curled around Tony’s shoulders, hiding her face. Loki had never seen her taking the form of a snake before.

“We have to get out of here”, Tony said in response to Clint’s question. “As soon as possible. We have to get every single one of us out of here. Everybody.”

The others stayed silent for a moment, probably shocked by Tony’s uncharacteristically grim expression and tone. Then Natasha asked, “What did you find out?”

Bruce walked over to his bed and sat down, Reyna still in his arms. He himself had calmed down a little and now looked like he was going to get sick. He didn’t answer, and Tony didn’t say anything either, apparently not knowing how to put it into words.

Hela pressed herself against Loki’s neck, her feathers tickling his skin. “We went to that shack”, Loki said. “It’s full of dæmons. That’s what they do to the children they take away, they… separate them.” 

They all stared at him. Every dæmon in the room huddled close to their human, suddenly - Themis jumped into Steve’s lap and curled up there, Shaye crept into one of Clint’s pockets, Kalon hid behind Natasha’s legs and clung to her ankles.

“They do what?”, Steve asked, his brows drawn together. 

“They separate dæmons from their humans”, Bruce said from where he was now lying on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. “The shack was full of cut off dæmons, in… glasses, and… boxes.”

“Are you sure? I really can’t believe someone would -”

“We were there, Steve”, Tony snapped. “We saw it. They do it. No idea how or why, but they do. And we have to get out of here.”

Steve fell silent, and after a moment he nodded.

“There’ll be a fire drill next week”, Natasha said. “They need to get all the children out of the facility for that. It’ll be easier to subdue them, out in the snow.”

Nobody questioned where she got that information from. It was Natasha, after all.

“We have to talk to all the others”, Clint said. “Get them to work with us.”

The others agreed, but Loki saw a massive flaw in that plan. If it was even enough of a plan to call it that. “And what then? There’s nothing but snow anywhere, miles into every direction.”

They were silent for a while. Apparently nobody had an answer to that, and Loki thought they would have to come up with another idea that wouldn’t involve them dying in the cold.

“I don’t know about you”, Bruce said then, his voice normal and quiet again, “But I’d rather freeze to death than lose my dæmon.”

That was settled, then.

Loki couldn’t sleep that night. He heard the others turning and thrashing around, too, but nobody acknowledged that they were all awake. At least not until quite some time after midnight, because then Tony suddenly left his bed and crawled into Loki’s instead.

“Can’t fucking sleep”, he muttered. 

“Me either”, Loki whispered back, and that was all they said for a long time.

Then, suddenly, “Loki?”

“Hmm?”

“We’re going to get out of here. Everything’s going to be alright.”

Loki couldn’t see Tony’s face in the darkness. He didn’t know if Tony was trying to reassure Loki or himself, but that didn’t really matter, anyway.

“Okay”, Loki said.

 

~

 

It happened a few hours before the planned fire drill.

They all sat at the breakfast table -  _  them all  _  being Loki, Natasha, Bruce, Steve and Clint. Tony had, as so often, overslept, and the nurse had made them go to the canteen without him. But that had been almost an hour ago, now, and Tony still wasn’t here. Steve kept saying that they shouldn’t worry, Clint kept saying that Tony was just an idiot, Bruce kept silent.

It was Natasha who eventually asked, “What if they took him?”

They looked at each other and, after some time, made a decision.

Another boy had been taken away at the beginning of the week, and they had learned about it soon enough that they had been able to send Natasha after the nurse who had led the boy away. They knew were they were bringing the children now - a secluded area of the facility, probably a laboratory. 

Loki and Natasha made their way to the well-secured door that led to it, and it was almost ridiculously easy to distract the guard standing in front of it. The only thing Natasha had to do was start to cry and act like the helpless girl she definitely was  _ not _ and the guard was fussing over her, giving Loki the chance to steal the keycard that allowed him to open the door.

Apparently this area of the building was also sound-proofed, because from there on, the only thing Loki had to do was follow the screams.

It was Anthony's voice, no doubt. He was shouting insults and threats and there were screams for help somewhere in between, too. It made Loki's blood run cold, and before he could even move Hela - in the form of a leopard - was already running towards Anthony's voice. Loki followed her as quickly as he could while also being quiet. 

It was shortly before they reached a corner that somebody came shooting around it. Loki pressed against the wall in shock, as if that would make himself invisible, but then he realized that it was  _ Tony _ \- Tony, with Hela in his arms, almost slipping on the shining floor. He spotted Loki immediately, eyes widening in shock, and actually stumbled and  _ fell _ , and in that one second somebody else came running into the corridor. It was one of the guards, and Tony didn't even have a chance against the adult when the man grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder. Tony began cursing again, a sound that turned into a scream when the guard grabbed Kali by her pelt. She tried to scratch and to bite and to change, but nothing worked, and just a moment later they had all disappeared around the corner.

Loki was frozen. The guard hadn't noticed him or Hela. He could just turn around and -

“Loki,  _ move _ ”, Hela urged him on and Loki obeyed. 

He didn't run around the corner, even though he wanted to - he moved quietly and quickly, following the guard who still held both Tony and Hela. He brought them to a room and didn't once look over his shoulder before he took them inside. Loki didn't dare to glance into the room, he sneaked past it and waited a few steps away from it, pressed against the wall, and  _ prayed  _ -

_ Please. Please, please, please. _

It took less than twenty seconds. Loki had never experienced a case of better timing. The fire alarm was loud enough that it nearly ripped the air apart.

“I thought that was meant to be at noon”, somebody in the room said, confused.

“Yes, it - wait - hey, no, that's not - it's not a drill.”

“What?”

“It's not a drill! Come on!”

“But what about -”

“Just leave him!”

And two man burst out of the room, the guard from earlier and a man in a lab coat. They ran into the direction Loki had come from and didn't even look in  _ Loki's  _ direction, just like he had hoped. He didn't even wait until he couldn't see them anymore, he already sprinted into the room where Tony was still shouting -

Loki called Tony's name, coming to a slithering halt in front of the - in front of the  _ box _ Tony was in. It was above Loki's eye level, made of metal, and inside it was parted into halves by a grid made of mesh wire. The grid threw sparks, and as far away from it as possible  Tony was curled up against the wall, his head ducked because of the low ceiling of the box. He was breathing heavily and  _ sobbing _ , and Kali was - she was on the other side, also pressed against the wall. There was an electric, glowing line wandering drown the grid that separated them, already halfway down.

Loki was now  _ screaming _ Tony's name and banged his fist against the box - there was a grid separating him from Tony, too - and tried to open the doors, but they didn't move. Suddenly Tony was screaming back at him, so loudly that Loki's ears starting ringing.

“Turn it off! Turn it off, Loki,  _ please _ ! Turn it -”

“I don't know how!”

Hela, having changed into a crow, was already plowing at the many, many buttons and levers and screens in the room and now Loki joined her, looking for something,  _ anything _ \- 

In the end, he just grabbed one of the two chairs in the room and hurled it against the control panel, once, twice, sparks started flying, the steady whirring of the damned metal box broke off and both Anthony and Kali were tearing at the mesh wire that kept them apart.

Loki ran to the box and was now able to force the sliding doors open. He pulled Tony out of it, not even caring that they both fell to the floor. Kali was with them, too, safely tucked into Tony's arms, and he held her as tightly as he could and sobbed into her pelt. 

Hela landed on Loki's shoulder. “We have to go.”

Loki nodded and grabbed Tony's arms, trying to pull him onto his feet. “Tony. Tony, come on. The others set off the fire alarm, we have to  _ leave. _ ” Tony didn't react, not until Loki shook him and screamed at him. “Tony! We have to get out of here!”

And Tony pulled himself together and let Loki help him up, tears still running down his cheeks. Loki took his hand and pulled him out of the room, and a few seconds later they were running down the corridor.

 

~

 

So, yes. That was what they did - they got out of there.

It wasn’t that hard, in the end. Sure, they almost died, but it was the  _ almost _ that counted, right? 

The fire alarm caused an unorganized mess, and some girl that had apparently agreed to work with them started a snowball fight, which threw the staff out of their rhythm even more. They managed to get all the children to ran away in the chaos, and somehow they ended up plodding through the knee-high snow and freezing off their asses.  _ Almost.  _ Because it turned out that that weird girl from earlier had connections to Gyptians, who got to them in just the right moment and wrapped them up in blankets  _ before _ they could freeze off their asses. Oh happy day, really.

Tony spent the whole way with Kali pressed firmly against his chest. She never once tried to get away and snarled at everyone that came too close to them.

They arrived in a harbor after a few daya, and Tony almost puked at the sight of ships. He didn’t want to be locked up in one of those monsters for weeks  _ again _ , but at least the chances were good that they wouldn’t actually be locked up this time.

The real problem with the ships was that they would head for different locations. Which was good, because all the children that had come from Bolvangar also were from different locations. Or it would have been good, if  _ they _ hadn’t also been from different locations. 

Natasha decided to take a ship to Russia, even though Clint offered her - asked her - to come with him to Sacramento, from where he hoped to reach the latest station of his traveling circus. Bruce came with Tony and Steve back to New York, and Loki - 

“You’ll call, right?”, Tony asked, shortly before Loki boarded the ship that would bring him to Whitby, UK. Tony had already given him his home telephone number. “When we’re all back home?”

“I’ll call”, Loki promised with a grin, and then he was gone.

But Loki never came home, and he never called.

 

~

 

Loki’s eyes are closed, and he tries to keep them closed. But it’s hard; every time Hela hears a sound, Loki hears it too and his eyes want to fly open. But it’s easier to hear with her ears and see with her eyes when his own are closed, and since Hela’s senses are much, much better than his own…

He knows that it’s ridiculous to be this wary in a situation like this. But he also knows that he is never safe, no matter where he is, and he is rather paranoid than dead. 

_ There are cameras _ , Hela whispers to him, using their link.  _ If someone watches, they might find it odd that you’re sitting here with your eyes closed the whole time.  _

Loki sighs, but silently agrees,  _ You’re right. _ He opens his eyes, having to blink a few times to get used to his own senses again.

They are sitting in a modernly furnished, but rather bare waiting room. Virginia Potts led him here, her curious little bird-dæmon fluttering around their heads, after  _ Mr. Stark _ put a very sudden end to the press conference. He’s been waiting for almost twenty minutes now, and by now he isn’t sure if Tony will come at all. The last time they saw each other was ages ago, after all, and they just spent a few months together. He isn’t even sure if they were actually friends or if he just likes to think that they were. Tony had probably all forgotten about him until he recognized him at the conference. It’s obvious that he doesn’t like to be reminded of everything that  happened when they were eleven, that it was a well hidden but still well known secret until today. And here Loki went and ruined everything Tony built for himself in years of hard work and repression, just because he wasn’t able to resist when he heard the name  _ Tony Stark _ . They should probably leave.

_ We’re staying exactly where we are. And stop fretting, you’re making me nervous. _

Loki looks at Hela and only just catches her rolling her eyes. She’s sitting on the floor at his feet, her long tail neatly folded around her legs, and keeps the door in sight, her ears cocked. Loki reaches out and buries his hand in the black pelt of her neck, knowing how much she likes to be petted there. 

_ Sorry. _

She starts to purr, which probably means that he’s forgiven. Loki smiles, and only stops smiling when Hela suddenly stops purring, her ears tilting backwards as she stares at the door. 

_ Someone’s coming. _

He takes his hand away and she stands up, walking on silent and quick paws to a spot in the room where she won’t be immediately noticed by whoever will open that door. Loki would like to tell her and himself that such precautions aren’t necessary if it’s Tony, but then he remembers that he doesn’t know Tony at all. He remembers a boy, crouching in front of him to see if he was alright, eyes lighting up with glee whenever Loki suggested some mischief, hammering his fists against the mesh wire that separated him from his dæmon. Loki still thinks of that, can remember every single detail of the months they spent in Bolvangar, but he doesn’t know if it’s the same with Tony. The man that boy from Loki’s memories has become is a stranger to him.

But when the door opens and Tony suddenly stands there, Loki still recognizes him. He recognizes him just like he did earlier - The goatee is new, of course, but the eyes are still the same, even though there are some lines around them that speak of Tony’s age and his habit of grinning often and brightly. The hair is just as messy as Loki remembers, too, but somehow it’s still not the same I-have-never-seen-a-comb-in-my-life style from the past. Or maybe it is, and just seems stylish and wanted because it fits to the expensive sneakers and the shirt of a band Loki has heard of but never listened to. 

“Oh my god”, is the first thing Tony says, and the voice is different, too. Of course it is. “You’re really here. I’m not hallucinating.”

Loki has stood up by now, watching the other man warily. He’s shorter than expected. “No, you aren’t. As far as I know, at least.”

“Oh my god”, Tony says again, and then he’s rushing forward and suddenly,  _ oh, _ suddenly Loki’s arms are full with another human and he doesn’t quite know what to do with that, but Tony’s arms feel nice around his neck, holding onto him, so Loki just pats his back a little and squints down at messy brown hair that feels surprisingly soft against his jaw and throat. Tony is standing on tiptoes.

“I thought you were dead”, Tony says. His voice sounds wetter and more broken than Loki would like. “ _ Everyone _ thought you were fucking dead, Loki.  _ Loki. _ ”

“I’m not dead”, Loki tells him quietly. Just when he wants to properly wrap his arms around Tony in return, the other man pulls away to look at him again. His brown eyes are searching his face rapidly, and Loki realizes that they are even brighter than he remembers. 

Loki smiles.


	2. Malibu

“Where is Hela?”, that is the first thing Tony asks, worried. “Is she - please tell me she’s -”

“She’s right there.” Loki nods in her direction, and Tony spins around - stops touching Loki; he feels the lack of warmth at once - to look at her.

“Oh”, Tony breathes. “You’re freaking gorgeous. It’s - oh fuck, I can’t even tell you how  _ good  _ it is to see you.”

The black panther blinks at him - she’s purring again -, but then turns back to Kali, who has spotted her long before Tony. They continue greeting each other, and for the first time Loki gets a chance to take a look at Tony’s grown dæmon in person. A silver fox, he thinks, and  _ beautiful.  _ Her pelt is a charcoal grey, with streaks of silver here and there, a white tip of an otherwise black and bushy tail. Kali’s amber eyes are just as bright as Tony’s. 

“I didn’t see her at the conference”, Tony says quietly. He’s looking at their dæmons in awe, too.

“She was patrolling in the corridors.”

“So far away from you.” Tony sounds a bit absent, but when he turns back at Loki, he seems to be back in the here and now.

Loki doesn’t know what to say, has no idea why he’s here at all, so he just holds Tony’s gaze and waits for him to say something. Tony doesn’t disappoint.

“Where have you been the whole time?”, he asks. “It’s been - what, twenty years?”

“Twenty two.”

“Right.”

“It’s a long story”, Loki says, hesitant. He knows he shouldn’t talk about this, not to Tony, not to anyone. “A story I would rather not tell, if I am entirely honest. I didn’t even mean to bother you for very long, I just wanted to -”

“Yeah, no, you can stop right there. You’re not bothering me, and you’re definitely staying. You can’t just show up here and then leave again. I -” He cuts himself off, suddenly looks lost. “I thought you were dead.”

Guilt is dripping down Loki’s spine, but he shakes it off like a few droplets of rain. “I can’t stay, Tony. I’m sorry.”

“Why not?”

“It wouldn’t be safe for both of us.”

Tony looks at him for a very long time. Kali has come to sit at his feet and is looking at Loki, too. He avoids meeting her eyes as good as he can. 

“You’re on the run”, Tony says eventually. It isn’t a question. 

Loki doesn’t say anything, but Tony seems to take his silence as a confirmation. His jaw sets, and there’s a tension about his shoulders and a look in his eyes that tells Loki that Tony hasn’t forgotten about Bolvangar either, not at all. 

“You’re staying.” Tony’s tone allows no contradiction. “You can come and live with me, you won’t find a safer place. You can tell me what you ran away from if you want, but you don’t have to. Okay?”

Loki knows that it’s a very bad idea.

_ Yes _ , Hela says,  _ okay. _

“Okay”, he says outloud.

 

~

 

“So, you’re a journalist?”, Tony asks, because he has no idea what else to say.

Loki snorts and shakes his head. He’s wearing a pass at a band around his neck and now lifts it for Tony to see. “No. Jamie Richards is, though.”

Tony looks at it as they walk to his car. “You could’ve at least found someone who looked  _ somewhat _ like you.”

“Oh, that would have been rather difficult”, Loki says, smirking, his voice deep and smooth and clean off the accent he had when he was eleven. His voice is pretty much accentless at this point, which somehow puts Tony on edge.

“I can imagine.” Tony grins at him and exaggeratedly looks Loki up and down. It makes Loki’s smirk stretch into a real smile even as he looks away. He doesn’t duck his head, but something about the way he puts his shoulders back tells Tony that it’s a close thing, and he wonders how a guy like this isn’t used to flirting, even when it’s only in pretence. 

Well, more or less in pretence. Tony appreciates a good looking man when he sees one, even when it’s a long lost childhood friend who appeared out of nowhere after twenty years of playing dead.

When they arrive at his car, Tony looks back at their dæmons who’ve been walking a bit behind them. It’s hard not to stare at Hela, because fuck, she really is gorgeous and also a bit terrifying. Tony has seen many dæmons in his life, also a few large cats - and he has seen  _ real _ large cats too, of course - but Hela is… really something. She’s big, for one thing, her shoulders are on the level of Tony’s waist, and her pelt is the deepest black Tony has ever seen. The muscles beneath it are obviously strong, he can watch them move. Hela’s eyes are yellow and bright and just as intelligent as Loki’s. Tony thinks back to Bolvangar and can’t help but wonder what happened to them that made Hela choose this form. He remembers the animals she preferred back then - mouses or lizards or freaking axolotls, sometimes a cat, often a magpie. Never anything this big and… impressive.

Tony adores it. He adores  _ her _ , and Loki, the both of them, and he can’t believe that they are actually alive.

Getting Hela into the car turns out to be a bit of a problem, though.

“No”, Loki says as soon as he takes a look at the back seats of the sports car. “I am sorry, but this won’t do. She doesn’t like small spaces.”

“Oh. Uh, okay, I can - I’ll call a friend, he can come and get us with a bigger car, then -”

“That won’t be necessary”, Loki interrupts him smoothly, smiling a smile that looks sincere but  _ isn’t _ , not really, Tony can see it in his eyes. “She can follow us on her own.” 

Tony stares at his once-but-maybe-still friend, trying to figure out what exactly Loki means. He thinks about how Hela was apparently “patrolling the corridors” during the press conference and how that shouldn’t even be  _ possible _ , because how can anyone be so far away from his dæmon and not be bothered by it? As far as Tony knows, only witches can do that. Tony has about a million questions about this, but keeps himself from asking for now.

“My house is directly by the sea”, he says instead. “It’s not exactly around the corner.”

“We will be fine.” Loki’s tone is soothing but decisive, and Tony feels like starting a discussion about this right now wouldn’t go that well. He can’t see a reason why he should, anyway.

“Okay, then”, Tony says and unlocks the car. Loki slides onto the passenger seat without further ado, not looking particularly worried. But by the tension around his shoulders and the look in his eyes Loki is far from relaxed. He doesn’t say anything while Tony maneuvers the car out of the garage, just stares at the window. The fact that his dæmon isn’t in a ten feet radius of him doesn’t seem to bother Loki at all, and Tony doesn’t quite know whether he finds that fascinating or creepy. A bit of both, maybe. Kali has settled on his shoulders, curled around his neck, and he knows that she’s eyeing Loki curiously. Tony would like to do that too, actually, but he sort of has to concentrate on the street. Also he doesn’t want to make Loki any more uncomfortable, he looks tense enough as it is.

Tony remembers how quiet Loki was in Bolvangar. A small kid, thin, with a face that could make anyone believe that he was innocence itself. Which was good, because Loki also happened to be  _ mischief _ itself. In the few months they were in Bolvangar, he pranked the whole staff and most of the other kids and somehow always managed to put the blame on somebody else. Loki always grinned, then, as soon as the nurses weren’t looking anymore, and for a while he’d make more jokes than usual before turning quiet again. Under the small group of friends Tony made in Bolvangar, Loki quickly became the best, though in hindsight, Tony can’t really say why. They just hit it off, somehow.

Everytime he thought about Loki in the past twenty years - and he thought about him a  _ lot _ \- Tony remembered that boy he found sitting behind the curtains, trying not to cry, his dæmon that weird, little lizard-y thing Tony had never seen before. 

The silence in the car is strained and awkward, and Tony doesn’t like it. He also doesn’t like thinking of that boy while Loki himself sits right next to him, having nothing whatsoever in common with the child in Tony’s memories. Tony wants to say something, but he can’t think of anything  _ good _ to say, so he just asks the first thing that comes to his mind.

“When did you get so tall, anyway?”

Loki still doesn’t look at him, but when Tony glances over he can see the other’s mouth twitch into a smirk. “About at the same time when you stopped growing, I assume”, Loki says. “At fourteen, maybe?”

Right. Scratch what Tony thought earlier; Loki’s still an asshole. Which is a great relief, actually. 

“I’m the perfect average height for an American male, thank you very much.”

“The average American male must be very short, then.”

“Well, we can’t all be freaking giants”, Tony huffs, and Loki’s smirk becomes more prominent.

“Indeed we can not.”

Tony can’t stop himself from smiling; actually, he doesn’t even try. Loki can still be bantered with, that’s good to know. The atmosphere is a little less strained, too, even though it doesn’t really seem like Loki is starting to relax.

“Is Hela okay?”, Tony asks after a while, trying not to sound too concerned. But well, he is concerned, and he thinks he has every damned right to. 

“Yes”, Loki replies calmly. “Don’t worry. She is following us.”

“It’s a bit weird.”

“I know.” Finally, Loki looks at him again, though only briefly, and actually he looks more at Kali than at Tony. “Try not to think about it.”

Which is a polite way to say “don’t ask about it”, so Tony shuts up and nods. He can’t stay silent for very long, though; he’s never been good at that.

“I’m glad you’re alive.”

Loki takes a moment to reply. “Thank you”, he says then, which strikes Tony as a weird thing to say, but whatever.

Loki is alive and seems overall fine, and he’ll be safe.

God. Thor will lose his shit.

 

~

 

Tony’s house is indeed directly at the sea, and the first thing Loki thinks when he sees it is that it isn’t really a  _ house _ , it’s a mansion. A big and modern mansion, almost swanky - ah, who is he kidding, it’s definitely swanky. 

Loki likes it immediately. 

“So, uh”, Tony says when they enter the openly and expensively designed living room. He is gesturing vaguely at their surroundings. “What’s mine is yours, I guess? Just don’t go down those stairs, please. I don’t like having people in my workshop if I don’t… you know.”

“If you don’t know them”, Loki says, nodding. “Yes, I understand.”

Tony smiles, a bit tightly. “Okay. The guest rooms are upstairs. Come, you can choose one.” He leads the way up the stairs - well, actually Kali does, hopping up the steps. Loki follows right behind them. Tony glances back at Loki over his shoulder. “Is Hela alright?”

Loki has to smile; this is the third time Tony asks this. “Yes, thank you. She’ll be here soon.”

“Good. JARVIS will let her in.”

“JARVIS?”

“Oh, he’s - he runs this house, basically. He’s an AI. J, say hello.”

“ _ Hello, Mr. Jarlson. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. _ ”

Loki gapes, more at the  _ finally _ than because of the fact that there's a disembodied voice speaking to him from somewhere out of the walls. Tony chuckles; the sound makes Loki pull himself together.

“Hello”, he replies pleasantly, glancing at Tony.

The man grins at him. “Do you even still go by Jarlson? Hell, do you even still go by  _ Loki _ ?”

“Not really”, Loki says, and Tony snorts.

“Well, you can be Loki Jarlson again as long as you're here, if you want. If not -”

“No, no. It's…”, Loki doesn't know what to say for a moment, then settles for,  “good.”

Tony smiles, and changes the topic. “If you need anything, just tell him and he'll take care of it. Do you have any baggage? In a hotel room or something?”

“No. There's nothing.” Loki came to LA just two days ago, and he owns nothing else than the clothes he is wearing and the things in his bag - a gun, some knives, and a wallet full of money and fake IDs and debit cards.

Tony must find that odd, but he doesn't let it show. “Okay. JARVIS will help you order clothes and anything else you need.”

Loki stops walking. “Tony, I can't possibly -”

“Yes, you can”, Tony cuts him off. He pauses, his hand already on the handle of the door to what is probably one of the guest bedrooms. The look he gives Loki is serious, and kind. “There's nothing you could buy that would result in a remarkable difference in my bank account, okay? And I don't mind giving stuff to my friends. So just order whatever you want. You can hardly wear the same outfit every day as long as you're here.” The serious expression fades, a lewd - and nevertheless charming - grin taking its place. “Not that this outfit doesn't look good on you, because  _ damn _ , but you get what I mean.”

Loki can't keep from chuckling, though he can't quite hold Tony's gaze. “Thank you, Tony. You're… very kind.”

“Yes, that's me”, Tony nods. It doesn't sound like he believes what he is saying. “Kindest person on the planet. Here, take a look.” He opens the door and steps out of the way, letting Loki glimpse inside.

It's a nice but impersonal room, like most of guest bedrooms are, and the view out of the windows is spectacular. Loki just stares at it for a moment, thinking about the cheap and filthy hotel in which he spent the last nights.

“Every room has its own bathroom”, Tony says. “Come, let's see the others.”

“No”, Loki declines, shaking his head. “No, this is… This is lovely, thank you.”

“You sure?”

“I like the view”, Loki says, and Tony smiles.

“Okay. Do you want to… uh, I don't know, have some time for yourself, or…?”

Loki looks at the other man for a moment, realizing that Tony's nervous. “I don't mean to bother you.”

“You're not bothering me.”

“I interrupted your conference. You have a company to run.”

“Pepper runs my company”, Tony says, shrugging. “And I take  time off whenever I need or want to, so really, it's fine. Are you hungry?”

Loki hesitates, but gives in after a moment. “I could eat.”

“Cool. Chinese?” Tony waits for Loki's nod, then says, “JARVIS, a bit of everything they have.”

“ _ Done, Sir. _ ”

Half an hour later, they are sitting on the sofa in the living room and eating out of cardboard boxes. It's the most delicious food Loki has eaten in ages - actually, it's the first  _ edible _ food he's eaten in ages. And he didn't even steal it.

Tony doesn't ask any questions, and Loki doesn't need to ask any questions, either. Tony's been chattering away since they came back downstairs, talking about his company and JARVIS and other inventions and about pretty much anything else that comes to his mind. He banters and flirts like he doesn't have a single care in the world. (Loki recognizes a lie when he sees one.)

It's easy, sitting there with him. Easy, and terrifying. Loki hasn't had a conversation like this in so long, he barely remembers how to do it. But somehow he finds his answers, and he figures out when to nod and when to hum and when to smile. He even teases back a little, and in the end he is… not relaxed, maybe, but on the way. And that's what is so terrifying about this.

Hela saunters into the room when they have long been done with eating. JARVIS informed them of her entering the property a good hour ago, and Tony got a bit nervous when she didn't appear a few minutes later, but he assured Loki that it wasn't because he didn't want Hela exploring his estate. As soon as he sees Hela now, he looks ridiculously relieved, making Loki quirk an amused smile. He knows how discurting it must be for Tony to see Hela depart from Loki for such a long time, to see Loki without his dæmon nearby at all.

“She's fine”, Loki tells him when Hela comes over to them, rubbing her head against Loki's legs in greeting. “Would you mind if she looked around the house a little?”

“No, sure”, Tony says and gives her an encouraging nod. “Go ahead. Just don't go downstairs, please.”

Hela exchanges an amused glance with Loki and then strolls away. Tony looks after her while Loki looks at Tony, thoughtful.

“Do you always do that?”, he asks.

“Hm?” Tony turns back to him, blinking. “Do what?”

“Talk to other people's dæmons.”

“Oh. No, I just -” He seems to change his mind, because he cuts himself off and shrugs. “Yeah? It's a bad habit, I guess. Sorry, I'll stop.”

Loki doesn't say anything. It's not like he minds, and he knows that Hela doesn't really care, either, but he also knows that they  _ should _ mind.

“Sorry”, Tony says again, and Loki is about to tell him that it's fine when Tony already continues, “I know I promised not to ask questions, but it's - it's weird, okay? Just - how do you  _ do _ that?”

Loki doesn't need long to figure out what he means. And he really doesn't want to talk about this, but it was clear that Tony would ask. Loki should have avoided parting from Hela in the first place. “Somebody taught me”, he says eventually, not quite looking at Tony. Thankfully, the other man gets the message, because he doesn't ask more about the  _ how. _

“And it doesn't hurt?”, he wants to know instead, sounding stunned. “Not at all.”

Loki lifts his shoulders. “It's not the best thing I have ever felt, but it's bearable.”

Tony nods, frowning a little. He looks at Kali, who has stretched  out on the backrest of the sofa, and runs his fingers through her dark pelt. “Just watch out for her”, he says firmly.

There's a story behind that, Loki knows.

 

~

 

“What are you doing?”

Tony looks at Pepper and raises his brows. He's leaning against the kitchen counter, a bowl with cereal in his hands. “What does it look like?”

“You're eating breakfast.”

Tony nods. “I don't know why you're so surprised. The chances that you catch someone eating breakfast when you visit them at eight am are pretty good.”

“It's half past eight.”

“Yeah, I think that still counts as breakfast time.”

“You don't sleep, do you?”

“How did you even-”, Tony begins, but stops and settles for glaring at Pepper instead. “I sleep just fine.” Halen chirps skeptically at that, and Tony playfully threatens him with his spoon. “You stay quiet.” 

The little blue bird ruffles his feathers, Pepper just rolls her eyes. “We’re just worried, Tony. If you -”

She trails off, looking at something behind Tony, and he turns around and sees Hela coming down  the stairs in the living room. She stretches herself, then saunters over to them. Kali hops off the counter to greet her, and, after a moment of hesitation, Halen begins fluttering around the panther’s head. Hela just blinks up at him before she turns her attention to washing her pelt. A bit disappointed, Halen flies back to Pepper to sit on her shoulder.

“Hela”, Tony says around the spoon in his mouth. “These are Pepper and Halen. Pep, Halen, this is Hela.”

Pepper doesn’t say anything, just looks at him with her usual look of  _ Tony, no. _ She doesn’t like talking to other people’s dæmons. Nobody does. Well, nobody but Tony, he’s the exception. More about spite than anything else, really.

Thankfully, he’s saved from a lecture by Loki, who chooses this moment to come downstairs and join them. He stops when he sees Pepper, but then straightens his back and walks towards them. His eyes flicker around like they always do when he enters a room, scanning it for potential threats. Tony knows that habit. It’s one of his own, too.

“Good morning”, Loki says as he comes to stand next to Hela. He’s already dressed - dark jeans and a green button-up, the sleeves rolled up; Tony tries to stare not too obviously - but his hair is a bit disarrayed. Maybe he forgot to brush it. Tony hides his smile by shoving a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

“Hello”, Pepper says, hesitant but polite. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced before. I’m -”

“Pepper”, Tony cuts in. “Everybody calls her Pepper.”

Loki glances at him briefly, then puts on a charming smile and aims it at Pepper, offering his head. “Well, nobody calls me Loki, but I think you can.”

Tony stares at him and almost spills milk onto his shirt. Is that Loki flirting? Is he actually - with  _ Pepper _ ? Oh, fuck. Fine. Yeah, that doesn’t bother Tony. Not at all. He also isn’t embarrassed. He’s never embarrassed, thank you very much. 

See, the thing is - Loki’s been here for almost a week now. He’s quiet and polite, but his snark Tony remembers from Bolvangar has been showing through more and more. He hasn’t told Tony anything about what happened and Tony also didn’t ask, because he figured that Loki will tell him if he wants to. He also figured that Loki will  _ flirt back _ if he wants to, but that didn’t keep him from giving Loki some compliments and suggestive glances. Compliments and glances Loki hasn’t reacted to, really, except for the one or other smirk. 

And now he’s flirting with Pepper. Which could mean that either he isn’t interested in guys or he isn’t interested in Tony, which, pff,  _ no.  _ Tony’s caught Loki checking him out. He hasn’t caught Loki checking  _ Pepper _ out, though, so that’s a good sign? Maybe?

“ _ Tony. _ ”

Startling at Pepper's tone, Tony blinks at her. “Hmm?”

And there's the  _ Tony, no _ look again. Surprise, surprise. It's also a bit fond, though, so he probably won't lose his head today. “I said that I need you to sign the documents”, Pepper - apparently - repeats.  “And then I'll be on my way.”

“Yeah, sure. I love signing stuff”, Tony says, but doesn't make any move to actually sign the stuff Pep has placed on the counter when she arrived. She gives him a pointed look, making him roll his eyes and start placing his name on several lines.

To his surprise and  _ mild _ chagrin, Loki begins small talk. With Pepper. Tony tries not to listen and hurries up signing, wanting to be done as soon as possible. 

“Thank you”, Pepper says when Tony thrusts the documents into her arms. She seems to notice that he wants to be alone with Loki, and the smile she gives Tony is a little bit too knowing for his taste. She turns to Loki and smiles at him, too, her eyes kind. “It was nice to meet you. Tell JARVIS when Tony starts getting on your nerves.”

“I'm not getting on  _ anyone's _ -”

“I will, thank you”, Loki speaks over Tony, his tone pleasant.

Pepper moves to leave, but turns around to look at Tony once more. “Oh, and Tony - you should tell the others. They keep calling.”

Tony sighs. “Yes, I know. Thanks, Pep.”

Pepper rolls her eyes at his tone and a few seconds later she's gone. Loki's smile vanishes immediately, replaced by a frown.

“The others?”

“Don't worry about it.” Tony puts his bowl into the sink, which is  _ not _ a means to avoid Loki's eyes. (It is.) “Slept well?”

“Yes, thank you”, Loki says. He smooths out his expression, but Tony knows that doesn't mean Loki's suspicion has faded. 

“Hungry? I'm thinking waffles.”

“You just ate.”

“I'm thinking waffles.”

“Waffles it is, then.”

So they make waffles, and then they eat waffles, and it feels as if Loki has been living here for years and not just days. That doesn't make it any less surreal; Tony almost expects to wake up any passing second. God knows he dreamed about Loki a lot in the last twenty years. 

Tony keeps thinking of how Loki smiled at Pepper.

“I do”, Tony says while they eat.

“You do what?”

“I call you Loki.”

“Oh”, Loki says. “Yes. I'm sure Miss Potts knows that you do.”

Tony  _ hmmphs _ , and Loki smiles. It's much better than the one Pepper got, probably because it's sincere.

 

~

 

Loki dreams about Bolvangar. And that's weird, isn't it, because he has never had nightmares about Bolvangar before. His nightmares usually take place somewhere else. But here he is, waking up in cold sweat, broken gasps falling off his lips and the memory of that shack so clear in his mind that he almost needs to puke again. Hela is already curled around him, making concerned noises and licking whatever bit of his skin he could reach. He buries his hands in her pelt and closes his eyes, reassuring that she is here and he is here, and that nobody is going to take her away from him.

_ Nobody _ , she swears silently, and Loki starts catching his breath.

Just a second later Hela hears steps in front of their door, her eyes turning toward the sound, and Loki looks up. There's no knock before the door opens and Tony pokes his head into Loki's bedroom. He stops in the entryway, but Kali doesn't; she scurries over to the bed and jumps onto it, the mattress sagging just the tiniest bit under her weight. She looks at Loki and Hela out of her big, amber eyes, obviously worried.

“Sorry”, Tony says, his voice rough from sleep. His eyes are wide and worried and tired. “I just - JARVIS said…”

Only now Loki realizes that the AI turned on the lights on a dimmed level. He stares at Tony, at his messy hair and oil-stained shirt. He's wearing jeans. Loki glances at the clock on the nightstand.

“It's three am”, he says, or rather rasps; his voice isn't actually smooth after a dream like that, either.

“Yeah?” Tony sounds unsure, as if he didn't actually know that it's three am, or as if he doesn't know what Loki wants to achieve by telling him the time.

“You weren't sleeping?”

Tony looks down at his jeans, then lifts his shoulders. “I can go if you want”, he says then. “Just wanted to check if you're alright.”

“I am”, Loki says, and Tony nods without looking at him.

“If you need anything -”

“I'll tell JARVIS, yes.”

Tony nods and moves o leave, but he has to stop after just two steps because Kali is  _ not _ leaving with him. She stays on the bed and looks at Hela now, her head resting on her paws.

“Kali”, Tony calls quietly, “Come on.”

Kali doesn't react, and Tony sighs. Loki stares at them both.

_ Let them stay _ , Hela whispers to him.  _ Please. _

“You can stay”, he finds himself saying. “A while. If you want.”

Tony hesitates, gaping at Loki a little, but then he looks almost relieved. He leaves the door open when he steps into the room, and his bare feet barely make a sound as he walks over to the bed. It's broad enough that he can sit down on it without touching either Loki or Hela.

A few seconds pass in uncomfortable silence, then Tony asks, “Was it Bolvangar?”

Loki doesn't look at him, busies himself with petting Hela. He nods slowly, though, and eventually says, “The shack.”

“Ah”, Tony makes. “I dream about that a lot, too.”

Loki nods again. He doesn't tell Tony that this was the first time that hut made an appearance in his nightmares.

“Sometimes I wish we'd never seen that”, Tony says quietly. “But I think we had to.”

“We wouldn't have tried to get away as quickly as we did otherwise”, Loki agrees. “But still, it was…”

“Yeah.”

Silence, for a long while. Loki thinks about all those dæmons in that shack, cut off of their humans. Most of them were dead, but some were still alive. Those had been the worst.

Suddenly, Tony laughs, the sound of it a little bit out of place in the otherwise quiet room. Loki looks up at him again and meets Tony's eyes that are still tired, but also very warm.

“I just had to think about what you said when that guard found us”, he says in reaction to Loki's questioning look. “They'd sorted out the chaos in the canteen and he -”

“He came back to his post at the door just when we slipped back inside”, Loki nods, unable to keep himself from smiling a little bit himself. “Yes, I remember.”

“He asked what we were doing, and you said-”, Tony snorts, “- you said that we'd wanted to have a snowball fight. And when he noticed that there wasn't any snow anywhere on us -”

“I told him that we had very bad aim”, Loki says, and joins in when Tony starts to chuckle.

“I was very offended.”

“I know. That was part of the fun.”

Tony huffs a laugh, and his hand twitches as if he wants to reach out for Loki like he sometimes does - Tony seems to be a person who likes touching people, playful and affectionate at the same time, and surprisingly Loki found that he doesn't mind. He quite likes it, actually. But Tony refrains from touching him now, sadly; Loki can't help but be a little disappointed. 

Tony looks down to where he's fidgeting around with the hem of his shirt. His smile is fading already. “Bruce was so angry that he almost jumped the guy.”

Loki remembers. Tony had to hold Bruce back, and thankfully Bruce had kept himself under control long enough that the guard decided to let them get away with a warning.

Bruce. Loki liked him; that he remembers now, too. He wonders what became out of him and the others.  _ The others _ . He hasn't forgotten what Miss Potts said when she visited almost a month ago. He hasn't asked more about that yet, even though he knows he should. But he also knows that he shouldn't even be here anymore. Things that he should do and things that he does are not at all the same anymore, nowadays. 

Tony begins talking about something easy. He's good at that. Loki barely listens to the words he says but he does listen to Tony's voice, and that very attentively. He likes Tony's voice, and he also likes that Tony is here with him right now. Kali has curled up against Hela's side, and maybe that should be weird, their dæmons basically cuddling, but somehow it isn't.

They end up lying in Loki's bed, the lights dimmed again, and talking about everything and nothing until they both get tired. Loki doesn't know how long it's been since Tony has had a proper night's sleep.

“Hey, Loki?”, Tony says when they're both already half asleep. Loki doesn't manage more than an acknowledging hum in response. “I'm glad you're here. I'm really fucking glad you're here.”

Loki opens his eyes again, then turns his head to look at Tony. He can barely see his face in the darkness. “You are?”

“Yes”, Tony says softly. He rolls onto his side, facing Loki. “People have been looking for you, you know. Asking for you.”

It doesn't even surprise Loki. “Yes, I know.”

There's a pause, then Tony says, “I don't need to know what happened. I'm just happy you're alive, and well. You're more or less safe here, I think. And I'll do everything I can to keep it that way.”

“I know”, Loki says, and he does. “Thank you.”

“No need.”

“For what's it worth, I am… really glad I am here, too.”

Tony hums. “Good.”

Loki listens as Tony falls asleep, his breathing getting slower and more even. The device in his chest shines through his shirt a little. Loki closes his eyes, and drifts off to sleep himself.

When he wakes up, Tony is huddled against his side, his face buried in Loki's neck. Loki quite likes that, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a current list of the dæmons and their names: 
> 
> Tony - Kali, silver fox  
> Loki - Hela, black panther  
> Clint - Shaye  
> Natasha - Kalon  
> Steve - Themis  
> Bruce - Reyna  
> Pepper - Halen, red-flanked bluetail


End file.
